About Us

In 2003 Sympathy for the Kettle began as a storefront on St. Mark’s Place in the heart of the East Village in New York City. Thanks to a Lower Manhattan revitalization loan we became part of the colorful community that supported us. We were busy working in our shop, creating new tea blends and introducing a world steeped in history to our customers as the wonderful East Village whirled around us.

We watched people’s thirst for quality tea along with organic and Fair Trade grow during our years in business. We got people thinking about different ways of drinking tea, blending tea and infusing pastries and chocolates with tea. Our whimsical little tea shop became a workshop of new ideas and a beacon for similarly-minded people. And we sold a lot of tea even - impressively - to passionate coffee drinkers, we received stellar reviews and a lot of our customers became our friends.

We loved our 6 years running a tea shop. And we would love to do it again. We took some time off to have a baby, little Ruby. Give us time and we will open another shop before you know it once again in our favorite neighborhood, the East Village. But in the meantime our teas are available online. We are focusing on our most popular teas in our online shop and introducing new products. If you have a favorite tea that we no longer carry, email us and it just may be available. Or if you would like a sample, let us know. Check out our events listing to see where you can find our products out and about.